Three more military generals have been appointed as lawmakers in the junta’s National Legislative Assembly (NLA).
On 2 February 2017, the Royal Gazette website published an announcement about the appointment of three more military generals as new members of the junta’s appointed NLA.
The three are Gen Chanchai Changmongkol, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Gen Sasin Thongpakdee, Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Army (RTA), and Lt Gen Thanakiat Chobcheunchom, Commander of the Armed Forces Security Center.
The appointment of the three was approved by the King Vajiralongkorn after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) hand picked them.
The total number of Thailand’s junta-appointed lawmakers wearing military and police uniforms surpasses that of the neighboring Myanmar by about 25 per cent.
Prior the coup d’état in 2014, the National Assembly of Thailand was a bicameral legislature composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Assembly had 650 members, 576 of which were elected (500 members of the parliament and 76 senators).
Some of the NLA members appointed after the 2014 coup (Top from L to R) Gen. Aksara Kerdphol, Chief of Staff, Royal Thai Army, Lt. Gen. Theerachai Nakwanich, Commander of the 1st Army Region, Lt. Gen. Preecha Chan-ocha, Commander of the 3rd Army Region, Maj. Gen. Kukiat Sinakha, Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Queen's Guard.
(Bottom from L to R) Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara, former Chief of Defence Forces, Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters, Adm. Surasak Runreongrom, former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, Lt. Gen. Kanit Sapitak, former Commander of the 1st Army Region and former adviser of Ministry of Defence, Gen. Somjet Boonthanom, former appointed senator and former chief of the secretariat of the Council for National Security (CNS).